The world championships for this year’s WrestleMania Reading Challenge were held on Sat. March 27th at the Burton Barr Library in Phoenix.  The winners are:

• For grades 5&6: Gabe Murrell from Courtice, Ontario, who represented the Oshawa Public Library
• For grades 7&8: Liam Jose from Oshawa, Ontario, who represented the Oshawa Public Library
• For grades 9-12: La’Quan Deen from Homestead, PA, who represented the Carnegie Library of Homestead

They all won ring-side seats to WrestleMania XXVI as well as $2,000 for their libraries to use towards the purchase of materials for their tween and teen collections.  Attending the event was award winning author Will Weaver, who served as judge, and four WWE Superstars.  More information and photos are available from WWE’s web site. 

Librarians can register to participate in the next WrestleMania Reading Challenge beginning in April.  Look for information on YALSA’s home page.

Posted on behalf of Michael Cart, YALSA Nominating Committee Chair: YALSA needs you! The Nominating Committee is seeking qualified candidates for a variety of 2009 offices & committees and urges interested YALSA members to submit the online nomination form available online at http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/aboutyalsa/nominating.cfm. As the YALSA membership has grown dramatically, the Nominating Committee increasingly needs your input, time and talent and reminds members that self-nominations are welcome. Don’t be shy! The following positions will be filled: President-Elect (minimum of 2 candidates; 1 elected) Board Directors-at-Large (minimum of 4 candidates; 2 elected) 2011 Michael L Printz Committee (minimum of 8 candidates; 4 elected) 2011 Margaret A. Edwards Committee (minimum of 6 candidates; 3 elected) Division Councilor (minimum of 2 candidates, 1 elected) Terms for the President-Elect and Board Directors-at-Large will run from July 2009 thru June 2012. Terms for the award committees run approximately from July 2009 thru June 2011. The Nominating Committee is seeking nominees now through August 2008. Additional information and the nomination form can be found here: http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/YALSA_Election_Information#2009_Election Questions can be directed to Michael Cart at mrmcart@sbcglobal.net. Thanks for all that you do to ensure that teens have access to excellent library services and resources!

-Beth Yoke

It’s not too late to round up some library supporters to send valentines to your Congressperson asking them to sign on as a co-sponsor to the SKILLs Act &/or to support the Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA)! Learn more about this campaign created by AASL/ALSC/YALSA’s Legislation Committees from YALSA’s wiki.

Be sure to send the valentines to your Congresspersons’ local office. For addresses go to ALA’s Take Action page, then type in your zip code.

Your efforts will help ensure that your community continues to have access to great library services and resources.
-Beth Yoke

The time is now to advocate for libraries! To celebrate this Valentine’s Day, have your teens, parents, children and library supporters flood federal elected officials’ district offices with Valentines that express love for your library and its staff and ask for support for important legislation.
The ALA Youth Divisions – AASL, ALSC and YALSA – are sending out a call to action to library workers to have teens, children, parents and library supporters in their community send “I Love My Teen Services Librarian” or “I Love My School Librarian” Valentine cards to their U.S. Senators and Representatives, and to ask their elected officials to co-sponsor the SKILLS Act &/or support LSTA funding for libraries. Currrently only about eight Congresspersons have signed on to co-sponsor the SKILLs Act. A major grassroots effort is needed in order for this critical piece of library legislation to get passed. Please consider participating in this campaign. For more information go to YALSA’s wiki.

Thanks for all that you do to ensure your community has access to wonderful library services and resources, and thanks to the youth divisions’ Legislation Committees for creating this campaign!
-Beth Yoke

About the Scholarship:
YALSA, through an ALA Ahead to 2010 grant, will be funding one ALA Spectrum Scholar for the 2008 year who is interested in pursuing a career in young adult librarianship or secondary school librarianship. Spectrum Scholars receive a $5,000 scholarship towards the completion of a master’s degree in library science. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2008.

Spectrum’s major drive is to recruit applicants and award scholarships to American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students. Spectrum/YALSA will provide a one-year $5,000 scholarship and over $1,500 in professional development opportunities to one eligible student planning to attend an ALA-accredited graduate program in library and information studies or an ALA-recognized NCATE School Library Media program for the purpose of securing a job in a public or school library that serves teens.

Eligibility:
To be eligible for a Spectrum Scholarship:
•Applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. or Canada.
•Applicant must be American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.
•Applicant must attend an ALA-accredited graduate program in library and information studies or an ALA-recognized NCATE School Library Media program.
•Applicant shall have completed no more than a third of the credit requirements toward her/his MLIS or school library media degree at the time of award, June 1st.
•Applicant must be enrolled in an accredited program and begin school no later than September 1st or the Fall Semester immediately following the award.

•Applicants may have full or part time status.

Application:
The deadline to apply is March 1, 2008. Apply today via the online form.

For Additional Information:
To learn more about the Spectrum Scholar program, please visit the Spectrum web site.
Please direct questions to Gwendolyn Prellwitz, Program Officer, ALA Office for Diversity & Spectrum, by emailing spectrum@ala.org or calling 1-800-545-2433 ext. 5048.

Make sure you’re ready to vote in the 2008 ALA Election! Only members whose dues are up to date as of January 31, 2008 will be eligible to vote. Click on “Join/Renew ALA” from www.ala.org to renew your dues, if necessary.

If you prefer to vote online, be sure ALA has your correct email address. If a snail mail ballot is your preference, be sure ALA has your correct postal address. You can update your contact info online by following these steps:
1. start at www.ala.org, clicking on “Login” in the upper right corner
2. log in w/ your email address and password

3. click on “view my ALA”
4. then click on “update my profile”
5. add or change any contact information
6. click the red “save and continue” button

To learn more about the ALA election, go to www.ala.org, scroll down and click on the “ALA Election 2008″ icon. To view the slate for YALSA, go to the Election section of YALSA’s blog.
-Beth Yoke

The County of Los Angeles Public Library Teen Services department has created some materials that libraries can use to plan and implement library programs relating to the reading writing connection, in particular with diary/journal writing. The resources can be accessed from Meg Cabot’s web site. They include program ideas, a suggested book list, journal starters and downloadable journal pages. YALSA also has a Popular Paperbacks list called “Lock It, Lick It, Click It: diaries, letters and emails,” which can be accessed from PPYA’s web page.

-Beth Yoke

YALSA’s Nominating Committee has finalized the slate for the 2008 election. The slate is:

VICE PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT-ELECT (two candidates minimum)
Linda Braun
Nick Buron
Sarah Flowers

FISCAL OFFICER (two candidates minimum)
Mary Hastler
Ritchie Momon

SECRETARY (two candidates minimum)
Francisca Goldsmith
Tricia Suellentrop

BOARD MEMBER (six candidates minimum)
Angela Carstensen
Ruth Cox Clark
Shari Fesko
Monique le Conge
Sandra Payne
Gail Tobin

Cindy Welch

2010 EDWARDS AWARD COMMITTEE (6 candidates minimum)
Terry Beck
Roxy Ekstrom
Kathie Fitch
Cathy Lichtman
Mary Anne Nichols

Maren Ostergard

2010 PRINTZ AWARD COMMITTEE (8 candidates minimum)
Priscille Dando
Teri Lesesne
Jack Martin
Richie Partington
Sheila Schofer

Ann Theis
Cheryl Karp Ward
Carlisle Webber

Thank you to the members of YALSA’s Nominating Committee for the time and effort they put into the development of the slate. The 2008 Election polls open March 17th. In order to be eligible to vote in the election, members must be in good standing (i.e. have their dues paid up) by January 31st, 2008. For more information on the ALA election visit the ALA Election web page.
If you think you’re interested in running on the 2009 slate, it’s not too early to start planning! Michael Cart will be chairing the next Nominating Committee. You are welcome to contact Paula Brehm-Heeger, Michael, or me with any questions.

-Beth Yoke

We apologize for the inconvenience, but YALSA’s web site is experiencing technical problems. We’re working to resolve them as soon as we can. If there is information that you need from the web site, but are unable to access it, please send your request by email to yalsa@ala.org or call 1.800.545.2433 x4390 and the staff in the YALSA Office will be happy to help you get the information you need.
-Beth Yoke

YALSA at AASL Conference This Week:
For those of you attending the AASL Conference this week in Reno, please mark your calendar for Sat. Oct. 27th at 8:30 AM. Francisca Goldsmith will be presenting a program called “Making Teen Tech Week Work for You” in room A6 of the convention center. The second annual Teen Tech Week will be celebrated March 2-8, 2008 with the theme “Tune in @ your library.” Learn more at the TTW page on YALSA’s wiki.

Also, be sure to make some time to stop by Booth #1047. YALSA’s Program Officer, Nichole Gilbert, will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about YALSA, young adult literature and/or teens in libraries. She’ll have some great give-aways as well as “Librarians Change Lives” t-shirts for $20 (all proceeds go to the Friends of YALSA & artwork was donated by Unshelved). You can also pick up a YALSA Member ribbon to wear on your conference badge.

To learn more about the AASL Conference go to www.ala.org/aasl.

Teen Read Week 2008
Nearly 1,000 teens voted online to choose the theme for the 2008 Teen Read Week. The winning theme is “Books With Bite @ your library.” Be sure to mark your calendars for April 17th when the 08 TRW web site and online registration launches as well as Oct. 12-18 for the actual TRW celebration.

2007 Teens’ Top Ten List
Log on to YALSA’s homepage on Oct. 24th to view the 2007 Teens’ Top Ten list. Nearly 6,000 teens voted during TRW to select the winners.
-Beth Yoke